Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1887-10-01

Un AoePAn8 DlaIys
Many people regard the keeping Of
diary as meYitorious occupation.
The young are urged to take up this
cross; it is supposed to benefit girls
especially. Whether women should do
it Is to some minds not an open ques-
ton, although there is on record the
case of the Frenchman who tried to
shoot himself when he heard that his
wife was keeping diary. This inten-
the fear that his wife was keeping
record of his own peccadilloes rather
than of her own thoughts and emotions.
It has been assumed that the diary
serves two good purposes: it is dis
ciplinary exercise for the keeper of it,
and perhaps moral guide; and it has
great historical value. As to the first,
it may be helpful to order, method,
discipline, and it may be an indulgence
of spleen, whims, and unwholesome
criticism and conceit. The habit of
saying right out what you think of
everybody is not good one, and the
record of such opinions and impressions,
while it is not so mischievous to the
public as talking may be, is harmful to
the recorder. And when we come to
the historical value of the diary, we
confess to growing suspicion of it. It
is such deadly weapon when it comes
to light after the passage of years. 1t
has an authority which the spoken
words of its keeper never had. It is
er pGrte, and it cannot be cross-ex-
amined. The supposition is that being
contemporaneous with the events
spoken of, it must be true, and that it
is an honest record. Now, as matter
of fact, We doubt if people are any
more honest as to themselves or others
in diary than out of it; and rumors,
reported facts, and impressions set
down daily in the heat and haste of
the prejudicial hour are about as likely
to be wrong as right. Two diaries Of
the same events rarely agree. And in
turning over an old diary we never
know what to allow for the personal
equation. The diary is greatly relied
On by the writer's of history, but the
Drawer doubts if there is any such liar
in the world, even when the keeper of
it is honest. It is certain to be partisan,
and more liable to be misinformed than
newspaper, which exercises some care
in view of immediate publicity. The
writer happens to know of two diaries
which record, on the testimony of eye
witnesses, the circumstances of the last
hours of Garfield, and they differ
utterly in essential particulars. One
of these may turn up fifty years from
now, and be accepted as true. An in
finite amount of gossip goes into diaries
about men and women that would not
stand the test of moments contem-
porary publication. But by-and-by it
may all be used to smirch or brighten
unjustly some ones character. Sup
pose man in the army of the Potomac
had recorded daily all his opinions of
men and events. Reading it over now,
with more light and juster knowledge
of character and of measures, is it not
probable that he would find it tissue
of misconceptions? Few things are
actually what they seem to-day; they
are colored both by misapprehensions
and by moods. If man writes letter
or makes report of an occurrence for
immediate publication, subject to uni
versal criticism, there is some restraint
on him. In his private letter, or diary
especially, he is apt to set down what
comes into his head at the moment,
often without much effort at verifca-
tion.-Harper's MAGAZINE.